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| Cusco lower braces step up chassis stiffness. |
Cusco Lower Arm Bar Version I and II Braces replace the OEM chassis bracing, the braces reduce chassis flexing and improves body rigidity. These attach to the lower control arm mounting points, the front crossmember and the frame rails to ensure maximum rigidity. The braces were modified for exhaust clearance with the new MA Performance exhaust.
The stock EVO strut tower brace was replaced with a made in house Professional Awesome Custom Strut Tower Brace with Brake Master Cylinder Support. The PA Custom strut tower brace is a modified factory OEM brace with an added Brake Master Cylinder brace that is welded in position. It additionally bolts to the frame for maximum rigidity. The master cylinder brace incorporates a cup design to limit both vertical and front-to-back motion as well as an elevator bolt used for adjustments to better distribute the stress of the bracing. The brace greatly improves the brake pedal feel.
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| The brakes are remarkably stock. DBA 5000 two piece rotors, braided brake lines, Girodisc Ti brake shims and CL RC-8 brake pads take care of business. |
The brakes on the Professional Awesome Evo are remarkably stock. The stock front Brembo calipers are used while the front pads are replaced with CL RC-8 Brake Pads. The CL RC-8 pad compound has a steady coefficient of friction of approximately 0.6µ from 0 ºC to in excess of 1100 ºC. The CL RC-8 brake pad has incredible bite with little bed-in required which makes for a perfect Time Attack brake pad. Due to their higher metal content, CL Sintered pads do not rely on a pad transfer layer to generate high levels of friction.
For the rear brakes, stock Brembo calipers are also used with CL RC-6 Brake Pads. With a more modest coefficient of friction of approximately 0.5µ, the CL RC-6 used as a rear brake pad compliments the front RC-8 pads with very high, yet controllable bite.
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| No expensive big brake kit here. The stock Brembos are pretty good when fitted with the right bits. |
The car originally used CL-6 pads all around which proved incredibly user friendly with an extremely consistent brake feel regardless of temperature. The only issue was with accelerated wear of the pads with the CL-6 compound on the front brakes. A switch to the CL-8 front pads solved the issue. The team has achieved 1.24gs of stopping force with these pads and their Hankook RS-3 tires!
The stock rotors were switched out with Disc Brake Australia’s 5000 Series 2-piece ultra-high performance rotors. These rotors use an aircraft-grade aluminum center hat constructed from lightweight 6061-T6 aluminum. The rotors save 1.7lbs per side of rotating weight. The rotors also feature NAS (National Aerospace Standard) bolts and lock nuts as well as a unique Thermo Stability Profiling process. TSP enhances the microstructure of the disc rotor to withstand more heat, making them more stable under heavy braking for longer.
